Risks and Challenges of Microcredit Officials: An Explorative Study in Bangladesh

Abstract

Every microcredit organization has a team of field officials to disburse loans and collect repayment installments. They are the key actors of microcredit organizations. The objective of this paper was to find out the socioeconomic conditions of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) officials who are involved in the loan processes. Simultaneously, it attempted to explore the risks and challenges of the NGOs officials. This study used the qualitative approach to find how these officials cope with the terms and conditions of these organizations. The study relied on both primary and secondary sources for collecting data. The secondary data were gathered from the published and unpublished research reports, journals, books, records and documents of relevant agencies, and newspaper articles. The primary data were collected from interviews and focused group discussion. The study was conducted among 55 loan officials with the purposive sampling. The study area was in Dhaka-Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Vashantek, and Korail slums. The collected data were analyzed thematically to understand socioeconomic conditions and the risk and challenges of the field level officials of microcredit organizations. Finally, the paper concluded with the findings that microcredit organizations need to change their policies regarding their officials who are involved with loan processes to make them effective organizations.

Keywords: Microcredit; Loan Officials; Loanees; Risk; Challenges

Australian Academy of Accounting and Finance Review, vol 4, issue 4, October 2018, pp 186-192